POLITICAL OVERVIEW: JUNCKER’S ANNUAL SPEECH ON THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, UNPREDICTABLE ELECTION OUTCOME

Jean-Claude Juncker, European Commission President, delivered his annual speech on the State of the European Union on Wednesday 13 September 2017.
Photo Credit: Richter Frank-Jurgen

Europe is busy discussing the proposals of Jean-Claude Juncker, an the major election campaigns made it a point to comment. Minister of Finance Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU) expressed his concern about wanting to expand the Eurozone, saying it was good for Juncker to “up the pressure and tempo” on the issue, but cautioned that candidates would really have to meet the economic conditions for joining.

Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) was enthusiastic, calling the speech “engaged and leaded the way”. He also said that the “firework of ideas (…) would give us much to further discuss and debate.”

Just as Juncker’s speech, the taxation proposal of Germany, France, Italy and Spain regarding the taxation of the digital economy also garnered much attention, albeit not from German politics. Germany media mostly praised the proposal, although some also noted that actually getting companies to pay their taxes dutifully would be a tough task, even for the European Union. It was also noted however, that any action at the European level would require unanimous consent, which seems unlikely as of now.

Regarding the election itself, that still hasn’t been a major swing. Yet, smaller fluctuations over the last few weeks have removed the theoretical option of a coalition between CDU/CSU and one of the Greens or Liberals, respectively.

Overall, the poll numbers currently are as follows: CDU/CSU 37%, SPD 23%, FDP 8%, The Left 10%, AfD 9%, Greens 8%. With a majority requiring 327 seats, CDU/CSU and SPD would be the only two-party coalition that has a majority.